Lovely Runner

What it is about

Im Sol (Kim Hye-yoon), a devoted fan, gets a second chance to save the idol Ryu Sun-jae (Byeon Woo-seok) after a tragedy and wakes up in 2008 with everything still ahead of them. The series adapts the web novel 내일의 으뜸 (Naeirui Eutteum) and aired on tvN on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8 April to 28 May 2024, sixteen episodes in all.

What it did on air

The ratings climbed steadily through the run. 스타뉴스 reported that the fourteenth episode, broadcast on 21 May, drew an average of 5.3 per cent in Seoul metropolitan households with a peak of 6.1 per cent, and 4.8 per cent nationwide with a peak of 5.5 per cent, all Nielsen Korea figures.

The same report gave tvN’s target 20–49 measure as an average of 3.4 per cent in metropolitan households with a peak of 3.9, and 3.3 per cent nationwide with a peak of 3.7 — figures that put the drama first in its slot across all channels, terrestrial broadcasters included, for seven consecutive weeks.

Why it broke out internationally

Lovely Runner is a textbook case of a drama whose global audience outran its domestic ratings. Clips of the leads circulated on short-form platforms well before international viewers could find a clear explanation of what the show was, where to watch it legally, or who the actors were.

Where to watch

Lovely Runner streams on TVING in Korea, and tvN keeps the programme page from its broadcast run. The main trailer is on the tvN DRAMA YouTube channel.